japan running news

by Brett Larner Click photo for video highlights courtesy of NHK. First-year pro Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta), 12th at last fall's World Half Marathon in a sub-62 minute PB, brought his native Tochigi Prefecture home for its first-ever win Jan. 23 at the National Interprefectural Men's Ekiden Championships in Hiroshima. Buoyed by strong performances from high schooler teammates Genki Yagisawa (Nasu Takuyo H.S.) and Keita Shioya (Nasu Takuyo H.S.) Tochigi took an early lead and, even when passed, was never out of the top three. Ugachi started the 13.0 km anchor stage just 2 seconds behind leader Kosaku Hoshina (Miyagi/Team Nissin Shokuhin) and swiftly took the lead, ultimately opening a gap of 31 seconds to take the win. Defending champion Hyogo Prefecture struggled, dropping from among the leaders to the 20's in the middle stages, returning to the forefront, then dropping again to 10th after a weak anchor leg by Hoshina's teammate Satoru Kitamura (Team N...

http://www.shimotsuke.co.jp/news/tochigi/region/news/20081218/87474 translated by Brett Larner On Dec. 18 Kurobane Elementary School in Kurobanetamachi, Tochigi Prefecture, held its annual 42.195 km marathon ekiden. A team of 30 6th grade students and their teacher each ran from 13 to 14 100 m segments of a 200 m loop course on the school's grounds, passing a baton in a quest to beat British runner Paula Radcliffe's women's world record time of 2:15:25. This year the 6th graders wore t-shirts printed with the runners' names. Continually accompanied by enthusiastic shouts of encouragement from their classmates, the ekiden team finished in a time of 2:09:22, reaching their goal of a 'new world record.' Teacher Masami Murakami, 47, smiled, "Everybody did much better than expected." Anchor Shogo Kikuchi, 11, commented, "I'm glad we could all run til the end."